Keeping Secrets: A Speculative History of
the Modern British Secret Service.

By Brad Mengel

Author's note: This article is based on
a number of speculations based on the number of very small hints that the Secret
Service has allowed to let slip.

During the events of THE ALL CONSUMING
FIRE in 1887 Dr Watson discovered that Mycroft Holmes was the Head of the
British Secret Service. Mycroft, unfortunately, did not reveal when he was put
into this position except for this tantalising hint that "some years ago
Her Majesty decided to set up what, for want of a better word, might be called
her own 'intelligence organisation'." Whilst this would seem to suggest
that Mycroft created his own new agency, new research indicates that he
restructured the existing secret service and he had to literally recreate the
service that was created by Queen Elizabeth I with Sir Francis Walsingham in
command.

As far as I have been able to locate
that was the earliest chronological reference to Mycroft Holmes being head of
the British Secret Service (BSS) Although references do turn up in the novels of
Frank Thomas (SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GOLDEN BIRD and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE
SACRED SWORD both set after 1895), John T. Lescroat (THE SON OF HOLMES set
1915), Quinn Fawcett (AGAINST THE BROTHERHOOD, EMBASSY ROW, and THE FLYING
SCOTSMAN) and even in the film THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1888).
Turning to Conan Doyle's own references to Mycroft there are two very
interesting points raised but no date as to when he took up the position of head
of the BSS. The first point of interest comes from his first appearance in THE
ADVENTURE OF THE GREEK INTERPRETER where Sherlock tells Watson that Mycroft was
one of the founders of the Diogenes Club. The Diogenes was, as we know, the
cover of the BSS. Secondly in The ADVENTURE OF THE BRUCE PARTINGTON PLANS
Sherlock adds that Mycroft had created his position for himself. From this we
can speculate that Mycroft was given the position based on something he had done
himself.

So what did Mycroft do to earn this
position? This may lead us to the date of the formation of the BSS. Naturally,
an examination of the earlier life of Mycroft Holmes is in order. In my survey
of Mycroftian literature I uncovered ENTER THE LION. Set in 1875 it is narrated
by Mycroft himself and tells how he, Sherlock and Victor Trevor all helped foil
a plot to over throw the United States Government and replace it with a British
controlled Confederate Government (as a quick aside this appears to an early
attempt by the same conspiracy that was seen in DESTROYER 81: HOSTILE TAKEOVER).
It is my contention that this was the event that led to Mycroft being given the
job of establishing and running the British Secret Service, quite likely in
1876. Not bad for someone just under thirty.

Mycroft ran the BSS up to and including
WW1 as he was shown to have assigned Auguste Lupa (Nero Wolfe) his mission in
1915. But by 1939 Mycroft had retired and Sherlock Holmes was approached by
Winston Churchill to undertake a spying mission in Nazi Germany (as seen in
CURSE OF THE NEIBLUNG by Marcel D'Agneau) . So when did Mycroft retire?
Personally, and with no textual evidence, I speculate that he left the service
in 1919 after Prime Minister Lloyd George refused to take his advice with
regards to the Versailles Peace Conference, also Mycroft at this point was
seventy-two years old and the events of the previous four years had to have
taken their toll on him and the government may have fired him after the war.
(Also it had a nice symmetry with the ANNO DRACULA UNIVERSE). Mycroft was
allowed to keep his membership with the Diogenes and dined with Calvin Trent
there in 1924 thus leading to him to write up ENTER THE LION in 1934.

It is at this point I will address the
issue raised by THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. Set in 1898 it is about a
group of unusual people (Allan Quatermain, Capt. Nemo, Griffin, Jekyll / Hyde
and Mina Murray) who are recruited by Campion Bond under the direction of
"M" who was originally assumed to be Mycroft but is later revealed to
be Prof. Moriarty. Moriarty was in fact in the employ of the BSS. He was
originally recruited in University by the Foreign Office but later transferred
to the BSS. Moriarty was given the position as head of the Underworld to gather
information (he may have been in charge of Terrorism and Black Ops) and later
started to form his own private secret service which he was given the title of
"M". As can be seen in LEAGUE this was used to confuse people and
quite likely had the effect of blackening Mycroft's name. The Moriarty group
later merged with The Circle of Life lead by the second professor and later be
came Krafthaus and eventually THRUSH.

So the natural question following this
is who did become the second head of the BSS? Unfortunately, there is no
definite information here and I can only list possible candidates. The first
candidate is Charles Beauregard. In the ANNO DRACULA universe he took over from
Mycroft Holmes and given the close relationship between the two families in the
WN universe (his son married Mycroft's daughter) it is possible that he could
have succeeded Mycroft (Kim Newman ANNO DRACULA series, THE ALL CONSUMING FIRE
by Andy Lane and THE SHANG CHI CHRONOLOGY by Matthew Baugh). The next candidate
is another protégé of Mycroft Holmes, Patterson Gunthrie but I have no other
information on him (AGAINST THE BROTHER HOOD, EMBASSY ROW, THE FLYING SCOTSMAN
by Quinn Fawcett). My third possibility and personal favourite is Sir Henry
Merrivale (or H. M. as he prefers to be called). He was the head of the British
Counter Intelligence (in 1922) and a member the Diogenes Club so we are informed
in THE PLAUGE COURT MURDERS by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr). Carr also
reveals that his nickname was Mycroft, which he hated (Series of 23 novels by
John Dickson Carr under the name Carter Dickson). It is also possible that
Bancroft Pons also held the position. (Solar Pons series by August Derleth and
Basil Copper).

Of course there is no reason not to
assume that all of them could have taken on the position during that time for a
five to ten year period but without any confirming evidence one way or the
other, I honestly cannot comment.

It appears that during this period the
Diogenes Club was changed to Universal Exports also during this period was the
formation of the "00" section, with the license to kill, which was
formed with WW1 veterans (suggested by J. T. Edson in "Behind Locked and
Bolted door" in MORE J.T's LADIES where he reveals that The Ringer was in
fact a member of the "00" section who started after he was WW1) It has
also been speculated that Moriarty might have been acting as a "00"
agent when he was sent to kill Sherlock Holmes in THE FINAL PROBLEM.

The next confirmed head of the BSS is
Admiral Miles Messervy . According to John Pearson's JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORISED
BIOGRAPHY Messervy was appointed to the position of M in 1945 "at the end
of the war" (p145). Messervy possibly changed the Diogenes Club to
Universal Exports but in 1965 he changed that to Transworld Consortium. Messervy
retired in 1995 and was replaced by Barbara Mawdsley (if the short story "Licence
to Hug" (ESQUIRE Nov 1995 by Will Self) is to be believed her old code name
was in fact S suggesting that she may have been the head of section S)

According to new research it appears
that the BSS is not a single entity but a rather a collection of smaller
agencies as evidenced by the Mycroft -Moriarty feud. By the 1960's there were a
great number of these agencies and they include Q branch, The "00"
section (from Bond novels and films), Y1 (from the Tiger Standish series by
Sydney Horler), MI9 (from Dangerman TV series), MI6A (from Blade series by
Jeffery Lord), the group known as Circus (Smiley series by John Le Carre),
WOOC(P) (Harry Palmer series by Len Deighton), Department of Concealed
Communications (Double C) (Rand series by Edward D Hoch), Special Security (Boysie
Oakes series by John Gardner) and what I call the Gifted Amatuer section. Each
of these sections has a a specific purpose, "00" to eliminate external
threats, Special Security to eliminate internal threats, Q to develop new
technology, MI6A to exploit the discovery of extra dimensional travel by Q
Branch and Double C to break codes and ciphers. The Gifted Amateur branch
appears to be the branch that works with private citizens who have become
involved in espionage. Some of these people, (such as Modesty Blaise, Willy
Garvin, Simon Templar and Richard Hannay) are allowed to operate on their own.
Others like Austin Powers, Dr David Keel, Cathy Gale and Emma Peel all work with
an official agent such as Mrs Kensington or John Steed. This branch is also used
to train new recruits as shown by Steed working with Tara King, Purdey and Mike
Gambit.

A complete list of operatives of the
British Secret Service would be impossible but some of the more notable
professional and private agents include:

Charles Vine (series of movies, SECOND
BEST SECRET AGENT IN THE WORLD (LICENSE TO KILL), WHERE THE BULLETS FLY, OK
YEVTUSHENKO (SOMEONE HAS STOLEN OUR RUSSIAN SPY) )

Charles Bind (series of movies NO 1 OF
THE SECRET SERVICE, NO 1: LICENSED TO LOVE AND KILL, NO 1 GUN)

Dr Jason Love (series by James Leasor)

Nicholas Whistler (from Movie HOT
ENOUGH FOR JUNE (AGENT 008 3/4) )

During my research into the connection
between the British Secret Service and other agencies I discovered that there is
a whole spy network of connections out there and a host of aliases used by our
favourite spies and have incorporated them into a second section entitled:

A SPY BY ANY OTHER NAME

(Author's note: most of these
connections are highly speculative and might be in error if you disagree just
ignore that entry) Also the date in brackets refers to when the event took place
as far as can be speculated from the time these events where given to the public
and may be in error. The dates of the British series are the dates these were
first aired in Britain.

Richard Henry Benson's wife and child
go missing on a plane whilst in the air and Benson is in the toilet. All
passengers deny ever seeing them. The shock sends Benson's face and hair dead
white he then forms JUSTICE INC with Fergus MacMurdie and Algernon Heathcote
Smith. They are later joined by Nellie Gray and Josh and Rosabel Newton.
(AVENGER novel " Justice Inc" 1938)

(Benson much later discovers that the
ISD was responsible for the death of his family and his condition)

Derek Flint using the name Bryan Cooper
comes out of retirement to investigate a case of poisoned chewing gum that leads
inexplicably to an international crime syndicate planning to take over the world
with psychotropic drugs smuggled in phony Ming vases. (SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON
movie 1966)

Illya Kuryakin meets Jim Nash at a
Tailor shop and his children assume he is a spy. Kuryakin and Solo turn up to
explain the situation. (Say UNCLE-PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES (TV series spin
off of 1960 movie) 1966)

Derek Flint's next adventure IN LIKE
FLINT movie (1967)

John Drake is stripped of his identity
and is now Number 6 living in the Village (THE PRISONER Tv Seires 1967)

Steed works briefly with Hana Wilde
("The Superlative Seven" THE AVENGERS April 1967)

(Speculation: Benson in fact never
injured or killed any of his former teammates but faked all of these events in a
master plan to get them from the clutches of the ISD. This would seem to be
confirmed out by the appearance of Nellie Grey in 1971. The reason for this
error is that Andy Hefler who wrote JUSTICE INC was working from leaked ISD
files)

Speculation: It appears that another
group took over the role of the ISD in these things for convenience they will be
referred to as the new ISD.

MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. ends (1968)

I SPY ends (1968)

Emma Peel leaves after her husband is
found alive and Tara King replaces her as Steed's partner. it is unclear if she
is the sister of Dr Mike King who has previously worked with Steed. Both agents
are controlled by "Mother" THE AVENGERS (1968)

THE NUDE BOMB TV movie (1980) The
return of Max Smart. Max has temporarily been assigned to P.I.T.S (Provisional
Intelligence Tactical Service) his new Chief is Pete Thornton.

Finish THE BIONIC WOMAN (1980)

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are
called back into action by their new supervisor Sir John Raleigh (Steed) J.B.
(James Bond) also makes an appearance aiding Solo (THE RETURN OF THE MAN FROM
UNCLE TV movie 1983)

Pete Thornton has become a field agent
for DXS (Department of External Services) and recruits Angus MacGyver. Start
MACGYVER TV series (1985)

Mysterious former secret agent known
only as "Ray" (this name is taken from the Corvette Stingray he
drives) helps people in return for favours in later cases. (STINGRAY TV series
starts 1986)

Speculation: "Ray" appears to
another victim of the new ISD who has lost his identity)

Ray encounter a former evil anonymous
spy master who bears an uncanny resemblance to Napoleon Solo but this appears to
be a duplicate similar to the one seen in THE SPY WITH MY FACE. ("Abnormal
Psyche" STINGRAY 1986)

General Hunt Stockwell (Solo) takes
control of the A Team (1986 -7 season of THE A TEAM TV series)

Ivan Triggoron (Illya) Stockwell's old
partner appears and has been brainwashed into killing Stockwell. Believed dead
(could be misinformation to confound his brain washers) ( Say UNCLE Affair THE A
TEAM 1986)

Both Pete and Mac transfer to the
Phoenix Foundation (MACGYVER 1987)

THE RETURN OF THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR
MAN AND THE BIONIC WOMAN TV movie(1987) Steve Austin and Jaimie Sommers return
to action.

James Bond is using the code name J
("Diamond aren't forever" ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS TV series 1989)

GET SMART AGAIN TV movie (1989) Return
of Max Smart and 99

BIONIC SHOWDOWN TV movie (1989) Steve
Austin and Jaimie Sommers

Charles Bind (Mike Gambit) returns (NO.
1 GUN movie 1990)

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ends (1990)

High School student Michael Corbin is
mistaken for a CIA agent of the same name who is being brought in to replace a
dead agent Blade (it is unclear if this is Richard Blade who was mentioned in
the other section). He receives an assignment from "Mother" (not the
one who controlled Steed but rather his successor to the code name) Corbin is
outfitted for this task by Q Branch. IF LOOKS COULD KILL movie (1991)

Derek Flint using the name George
Caplan works with Hudson Hawk (HUDSON HAWK movie 1991)

Finish MACGYVER (1992)

Rykker (Solo), Steadman (Steed) and
Sterling (the Saint) meet Caine and his son Peter . Peter refers to the group as
a geriatric A Team showing his awareness of Solo's involvement with that team (Dragonswing
1 & 2- KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES TV series 1993)

Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott
return, Their children Bennet Robinson and Nicole Scott are now agents for the
SSA (Secret Service Agency) I SPY RETURNS (TV movie 1994)

BIONIC EVER AFTER TV movie (1994) Steve
Austin and Jaimie Sommers

MACGYVER: TRAIL TO DOOMSDAY TV movie
(1994)

Photographer Thomas Veil goes to dinner
with his wife after taking a photo "Hidden Agenda". Whilst he is in
the toilet his wife disappears and all patrons of the restaurant don't remember
seeing her or him. He has no been stripped of his identity. This starts the
events of NOWHERE MAN TV series (1995)

(Speculation given the similarity of
the stories between Richard Benson and Thomas Veil it appears that he is victim
to the new ISD)

Thomas Veil discovers the town of New
Phoenix which appears to be an abandoned Village where others who have lost
their identity hide, but still uses all the security devices "Paradise on
your Doorstep" NOWHERE MAN (1995)

Speculation: It appears the ISD and it
successor also controlled the Villages.

Cinnamon Carter, Alexander Drake
(Solo), John (John Steed), Dane Travis (Kelly Robinson), Jim Kessler (Grant
Collier) all meet Dr Sloan. Drake is apparently murdered by Kessler in an IMF
operation to smoke out a mole. (Discards - DIAGNOSIS MURDER TV series 1997)
(note despite airing after the first Mission Impossible film this must take
place first)

(Speculation: At some point in the past
six years Jim Phelps has been captured and replaced by an enemy agent.
"Phelps" wife Claire is another enemy agent and the couple are placed
in the IMF as moles)

Steed is on assignment to protect Oasis
("Don't look back in anger" video clip 1996)

Mr Black (Steed) and Mr White (Willy
Armitage) report the death of an agent to E.C.H.O. (Emergency Counter
Hostilities Organisation) which causes the pairing of Lorne Cash and Max London.
Kelly Robinson is seen at the end of the episode threatening to blow up Statue
of Liberty in what is probably a training exercise E.C.H.O is later revealed to
have their headquarters in the old U.N.C.L.E. headquarters under Del Florino's
tailor shop which the agents call Uncle Solo's (Why Spy? -SPY GAME TV series
1997)

(Speculation given the similarity of
M.O. it appears that Chapel is a former member of the IMF. He also appears to
have been aware of Stingray and copies his system of favours. It is possible
that he is also victim to the new ISD. His use of Vengeance Unlimited as a
business name suggest an awareness of Benson's Justice Inc.)

VENGEANCE UNLIMITED finish (1998)

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 film (2000) Return
of Ethan Hunt and Luthor Stickwell. They are joined Aussie agent Billy Bains.

All rights reserved. The text of this article is copyright 2000 by the
author, Brad Mengel. No copying or reproduction of this article or any portions
thereof in any form whatsoever is permitted without prior written permission and
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